Ms McDowell said: “It is a fitting tribute to Jane’s memory that a heritage centre has been opened in the village where she was born.

“The people of Dunscore have been wonderful in getting this centre up and running so there is a lasting memorial to her life.”

There is also a short film featuring pupils from Braes High School in Polmont near Falkirk, performing a monologue based on the personal testimonies of two of the boarding school matron’s former pupils.

The scene includes a depiction of Ms Haining’s arrest when she told sobbing children “Don’t worry, I’ll be back by lunch” as she was led away.

Ms Haining was arrested in 1944, charged with working among Jews and taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where she died aged 47.

She was posthumously honoured by the UK government for “preserving life in the face of persecution” and is the only Scot to be officially recognised at Yad Vashem, the World ­Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Israel.

The new centre is being opened by Fiona Armstrong Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries.

She said: “Here in Dumfriesshire, we are very proud to honour the memory of such a brave and selfless woman.